Conventional rear view mirrors are single-planar mirrors. Such rear view mirrors are deficient in revealing the well-known and serious problem generally termed the "blind spot." Referring to FIG. 1, a motor vehicle 102 is illustrated travelling in a highway lane 103. Motor vehicle 102 has a conventional externally-mounted left rear view mirror 104, a conventional internally mounted center rear view mirror 106 and a conventional externally-mounted right rear view mirror 108. Using rear view mirrors 104, 106 and 108, the operator of motor vehicle 102 has a field of view indicated by field of view 110. However, this field of view does not include what is known as the "blind spot" 112.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, the blind spot can cover a significant area, and often includes other motor vehicles traveling in adjacent highway lanes, for example motor vehicle 114 traveling in lane 115. Consequently, if the operator of motor vehicle 102 change lanes from lane 103 to lane 115 after checking only left rear view mirror 104, he may not see motor vehicle 114. Consequently, the lane change could result in an accident, sometimes referred to as "blind siding."
The risk of this type of accident could be reduced significantly by substantially eliminating the blind spot. Several prior apparatus attempted to solve the problem. Racecar drivers, for example, have attempted to increase their competitive efficiency on a racetrack by adding lateral extensions to their internally mounted center rear view mirror and angling those extensions so that the left side extension gives a view to the right side and the right side extension gives a view to the left side. For several reasons, this solution has not met with general acceptance by the non-racing public. First, there is significant occlusion of the required view by the structure of the automobile, passengers, cargo and/or frosting or steaming up. Second, there is often confusion because the added right side extension views the left side of the vehicle and the added left extension views the right side of the vehicle.
Another attempt to solve the problem has been employed by some truckers. A small convex mirror is mounted on the conventional external flat plane mirrors in an effort to somewhat enhance the rear view when backing up, for example, backing up to loading docks. However, the small convex mirror does not adequately cover the blind spot and significantly distorts the reflected image and is therefore of no practical value in the normal driving environment.
The need of an operator to be able to view any vehicles approaching on the left and/or right sides of the vehicles is being exacerbated daily by the development more and more high-speed multi-laned highways because passing on both the left and right sides of a vehicle is generally practiced. The sound level of car radios and tapes often muffles the sound of overtaking vehicles. Other distractions, including cellular telephones and other hi-tech devices, further increase the risk of blind siding accidents caused by the operator's inability to see or hear vehicles in the blind spot caused by conventional rear view mirrors.
Thus, what is required is a rear view mirror configuration that substantially reduces, or eliminates completely the blind spot associated with conventional single-planed rear view mirrors. In addition, the rear view mirror should be able to be easily mounted on a wide variety of motor vehicles including, but not limited to: passenger vehicles, recreational vehicles, vans, pick up trucks, panel trucks and motorcycles.